2024 Spring Trip: Carrabelle Beach, Florida

 Sunday, 4/21:  285 miles, parked at Carrabelle Beach RV Resort, Carrabelle Beach, FL

I-10 to Exit 152, then FL-65 to FL-98.

Site 31

At 5 hours, we had a longer drive today, and then add an hour because of the time change coming back into Eastern Time, it was 6 hours on the clock.  It rained off and on, but cleared by the time we arrived for setup for our 7 day stay.  This is our 3rd visit here, and we like this park a lot.  The sites are immaculately landscaped, and there is a HUGE public beach right across the road.  It is literarily a 3 minute walk, and is dog friendly.  The RV sites are paved and extremely well groomed.  This park is truly a resort, with beautiful swimming pool, laundry and club house. Most, if not all of the RV'ers are like us, retired.  The RV sites here are privately owned, and rented out when not being used by the owners.

As you can see, the public beach is right across the street.

While here we are meeting up with Floridian friends Mark and Charmaine for a couple days.  Both are former Northern New York residents who have forsaken the north for the warm and sunny south.  One of the high points was a visit to Apalachicola, about 30 minutes away.  We were all together here last year, and, like last year, Tupelo Honey is always on our shopping list.  Thus a stop at the Apalachicola Sponge Company was a must.  You can learn more about Tupelo Honey HERE.

And, as we did last year, we ate a fabulous lunch at the Owl Cafe.  I had a Tripletail Reuben sandwich, which is a Rueben made from fish instead of corned beef.  Judy ordered fish tacos.   Both lunches were excellent.  I had never heard of Tripletail, but learn more about the Florida Tripletail HERE.

Sadly, Mark and Charmaine could only stay a couple days.  But food, laughter, great conversations and hugs will last us until next year.  

Carrabelle is a quaint town that appears to survive on tourism.  And, like our home town of Gouverneur, a nearby prison is also a major employer.  In addition, the Franklin County School System is a prominent employer.  This area of Florida is often referred to as The Forgotten Coast.  As per, Wikipedia, the Forgotten Coast refers to a largely untouched and uninhabited area of coastline in the panhandle of Florida.  The Wikipedia link further describes the area.

The Forgotten Coast of Florida.

With the constant sunny and mid 70's weather everyday, Parker and I did a great deal of beach walking.  we would take an early morning walk to watch the sunrise, and an evening walk to catch the sunsets. 

 

Sunset on one of our many beach walks.

Saturday we explored the Carrabelle Riverfront Festival, always held the 4th Saturday in May.  And what a fun event it was!  We avoided the biggest crowds and hottest weather by going early in the morning, but it was already getting crowded.  In addition to the many vendor displays, we toured the really interesting Carrabelle Museum.  We learned that back in the late 1800's to 1920's, the harbor at Carrabelle was a major shipping port.  The Forgotten Coast Dancing Witches, a nonprofit out of Port St. Joe were there, and what a fun group they looked to be.  Today they were raising money for the local Humane Society. 

The museum has cultural artifacts going back 20,000 years.

We also came across this pristine 1964 Chevrolet Corvair.   Wow!!  What a beautiful car.  However, the Corvair gain notoriety for being one of the subjects of consumer advocate Ralph Nader's 1965 book "Unsafe at Any Speed".  The book eventually lead to the creation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and increased safety regulations in the auto industry. 

On the last day of our stay, an unusual RV pulled it.  It was an old tour bus that had been converted to an RV and it sported solar panels on the roof.  Not your usual setup.  I wish I had a chance to visit, but missed them.

So after a run of 7 days of sunny and mid 70's weather, we have to move on tomorrow as we turn north to Georgia make our way home.  Stay tuned.

NEXT POST: Georgia, Kentucky, West Virginia and HOME!

2024 Spring Trip: Meaher SP, Spanish Fort, Alabama

 Saturday, 4/13:  223 miles and parked at the Lafayette KOA, Scott, Louisiana

I-610 out of Houston, then I-10.

Site 155

After checking in today, we discovered a hiccup.  The refrigerator had quit working and it's 85 degrees out.  Yikes.  We did the usual checks; fuses, breakers, etc, and they all seemed fine.  But there no power to the fridge at all.   We left phone messages at 2 mobile tech services, but neither one returned our call.  It's the weekend....GRRRRR.  What to do??  Everything is still quite cold, so we'll postpone any rash decisions and decide what to do in the morning.

Sunday, 4/14:

The KOA was kind enough to allow us to stay on the same site another night, so we booked it.  Then it was off to Walmart in nearby Lafayette this morning to buy a huge cooler and a compact freezer to hold us over.  By noon we had everything moved over and life is good again, although there is less room in the camper.   The freezer can be used at home in our garage while the cooler will become a storage and bench seat in the camper bedroom.

Monday morning we got a return call from Fun in the Sun RV Service.  They came right out and for $165 service call, labor and a 50 cent fuse, the fridge is back working again.  At least I know how to fix it next time.

That little orange 5 amp fuse on the bottom right of the circuit board was the culprit.

One of Louisiana's signature Cajun foods is boudin, and Scott, Louisiana claims to be the Boudin Capital of the world.  Boudin is traditionally a blend of cooked pork, rice, onions, peppers and seasonings stuffed into a sausage casing, although boudin makers today sometimes get creative with unusual fillings like seafood.  Billy's Boudin is right next to the campground, but we opted not to shop.  The fridge incident was enough money to spend this weekend.  :-) 

Monday, 4/15:  268 miles, parked at Meaher SP, Spanish Fort, Alabama

I-10, I-12 New Orleans bypass, then I-10 again to Battleship Parkway.

Site 59

Huge sites with view of Long Leaf Pines and Mobile Bay.

After the service call for the refrigerator, we were still able to get on the road by 10:00.  About a 4 hour drive and we pulled into the state park at 2:00.  I was nervous exiting I-10 onto Battleship Parkway because of a possible low bridge, but it turned to be a non-issue.  We were supposed to check in yesterday, but with a phone call they held our site.  This is a small park, only 61 sites, but expansion is in the works.  They are adding an additional 40 to 60 plus sites and several new bath houses.  There is construction noise durning the day, and the constant hum of traffic over the I-10  bridge across Mobile Bay, but none of it disrupting for us.  This is a wonderful and serene park to rest and relax.

View of the campground from the boardwalk.

Egrets

Parker and I saw our first alligator in the wild.

Cahaba Lillies

Parker watching the campground expansion project.

Parker met fulltime RV Goldens, Gaston and Sven.

Night lights of Mobile.

E-biking.

We saw many Blue birds flitting around our site.  On closer look, there were 2 nesting boxes mounted on the pine trees.  Apparently Blue birds are found year round here.  I can't wait to check our nesting boxes when we get back home.

Saturday was Judy's birthday, so we had a low key party.  Just the two of us and Parker.  In addition to a few gifts, Judy's daughter Christl had worked with me to have flowers delivered to the campground, and sure enough they showed up about 4:00 Saturday afternoon.  For dinner we opened a bottle of Pinot Noir and had window seating with a beautiful view of Mobile Bay.  

Sunday we continue our journey east and move on to the Florida Panhandle.

NEXT POST:  Carrabelle Beach, Florida